>First they came for the Fleshlights

Q: How many Men’s Rights Activists does it take to screw a Fleshlight?

A: That’s not funny!

So what emotion did you feel when Christine O’Donnell’s bizarre anti-masturbation video first started popping up on cable news and the intertubes? (If you haven’t seen it yet, pop over here and return when you’re done.) Did you feel amused, annoyed, befuddled, perhaps concerned that someone so wacky could possibly be voted into office? Did it make you horny, baby?

For the men’s rights blogger behind the Pro-Male/Anti-Feminist Tech blog, there was nothing funny about the video. “They’re Afraid of Men Masturbating,” he wrote in a piece also published on the The Spearhead, warning fellow men to beware the dark specter of the mysterious “they” — he never quite specifies who this is — trying to get between men and their hands.

And how will the evil “they” control men? Not by clamping their hapless partners’ junk in a stylish new CB-6000 Male Chastity Device. Not by drawing litlte moustaches on all the pictures in their porn stashes. But sneakily, insidiously, through “shaming language.” Religious conservatives like O’Donnell will open up their Bibles and start talking about Onan. Others will smirk and call men losers.

“When women use vibrators they are praised for taking control of their sexuality,” he complains. “When a man uses a fleshlight he is attacked for being a loser who can’t get laid.” The ultimate goal? “[T]o protect the pussy cartel from competition” in the form of fleshlights, virtual reality sex, and the comforts of their own hands and a bottle of lotion.

Yes, he did just use the phrase “pussy cartel.”

So, yeah. Here’s the thing. The reason the sex-positive feminists and the Samantha Jones’ of the world describe female masturbation as liberating is because, for many women, masturbation is still a source of deep, deep shame, so much so that many are too skittish or uneasy to even try it. While getting reliable info about sexuality is difficult, most studies of the subject indicate that men masturbate far more than women. (No duh.) One 2007 survey found that 95% of men had masturbated at least once in their lives, while only 71% of women had. More than half of men surveyed had masturbated in the week prior to taking the survey; only 18% of women had. Heck, I jacked it twice while writing this paragraph. I’m not afraid!

And here’s the other thing. When people call you a loser for shacking up with your fleshlight instead of a warm, living, flesh-and-blood woman, they’re not really making fun of the masturbating.

No, they’re making fun of you for being so wholly objectionable to any sane woman that you’re left alone with only your hands and your sex toys. They’re making fun of you for being the sort of person who uses the phrase “pussy cartel.” They’re making fun of you for being such a crazy misogynist creepazoid that you’ve actually managed to convince yourself, at least for the amount of time it takes to write a blog post, that your “hand will do more for [you] than a woman will.”

Is that shaming language? I suppose it it. That blog post was, well, pretty shameful.

EDIT: Some less-than-careful readers of this piece have somehow concluded that it is anti-masturbation, or at least anti-male-masturbation. It is not. Guys, masturbate all you want. In your bedroom, in the living room, in front of your pets, wearing a hat, wearing a dress. I don’t care. Masturbation is healthy, normal, and oftentimes highly entertaining. I have been known to masturbate myself. My critique was not of masturbation but of guys who actually think that Christine O’Donnell’s loopy remarks, which even she is backtracking on, mean that a “pussy cartel” is trying to stop men from touching their wieners.

EDIT 2: The target of this piece offers a response that suggests, among other things, that he really can’t read very well. But he assures us that he actually is getting laid, so yay for him on that.

>Wow that is new. Being called a misogynist for not fucking everything that looks remotely like a woman. Some people have standards. What about women who prefer their dildo over a warm, living, flesh-and-blood man? Misandrists? Or just objectionable to any sane man? Even more funny than the youtube-video is the fact, that self-proclaimed feminists like you have more in common with christian wackos like O'Donnell than you realise

>I have a fleshlight. It's great for a man as it reduces wear and tear from cuffin his carrot. But I haven't used it since my beautiful mail-order bride arrived. I taught her how to masturbate. In fact,I've taught several gals how to masturbate. You're right, they can have some real hangups about it. But that turns out to be a benefit as you can really pile on the salty, shaming talk to get her to an orgasm. Also, a Hitachi Magic Wand is the best tool for the job, in my humble opinion.As for your essay, you kindof prove his point. In one paragraph you exalt women for being ashamed to masturbate, complete with useless statistics. If they are so ashamed, perhaps they're not admitting that they masturbate, SFB. Then you follow it with cliche feminist insults about creepy unattractive men who can't/won't fuck a real woman, which incidentally, are the standard replies to any man's argument about anything. You left out the small penis charge though.Hey but thanks for the anti-feminist blog roll.

>You don't understand. Little Ms. David here is just jealous because men will rather use a Fleshlight than give Little Ms. David's hungry poophole and mouthpussy the gift of their manly, throbbing love rockets. Awwwww. Men are such pigs. Men are so shallow they can't understand Little Ms. David needs a Real Man™. Where have all the good men gone?

>Wow the comments here are nasty. The post was pretty good, though I think the fact that this O'Donnell is a right wing religious wackadoodle who is explicitly anti-feminist is worth a mention. Also she hates women masturbating too, so I don't see how she could be pointed to as having a double standard (even though her single standard is very bizarre). "When it comes to a woman who … is planning on trying to control a man through providing a minimum of sex" except that isn't even this one really weird religious group's belief. They were agaisnt all masturbation seeing it as sinful and adulterous (yeah, their ideas, not mine). Since when did radical right wing christian celebacy groups promote female masturbation as 'liberating'? "People against masturbation have a fear that men might actually have an alternative to women. … " Um, masturbation isn't the only alternative to sex with women, there's also sex with dudes. I felt the need to point that out.

>And of course, sex with flashlights. Although fleshlights is not as painful to have sex with.Also, there are inflatable dolls, soft pillows, pinatas, telephones, guitar amplifiers, …Literally, there is a whole world of stuff out there for us men to have sex with.Gonna try it all just once before I die.

>I love the comments calling you a girl. Oh, let's insult the feminist by calling him a woman! But wait, he probably takes it as a compliment! Because clearly all feminist dudes are actually trans women!I honestly can't think of how to explain to them that they sound like morons. They're just too far gone.Anyway, loved the post. The only way anyone could mistake this as anti-masturbation is deliberate, willful ignorance. Poor guys can't stand to be wrong.

>The first few posts here are like MRA versions of Poe's law – I honestly thought they were supposed to be satire, but now I think they're maybe serious? Gee, can't imagine why guys who think about women like that might have a hard time getting laid…

>"When women use vibrators they are praised for taking control of their sexuality," he complains.Vibrators are actually illegal in some states.Meanwhile, some dude will pitch a hissy about his first amendment rights if he can't have porn piped into his brain stem 24/7.MRAs who want to go back to the good old days can go back to jacking to the ladies underwear section of the Sears catalog.Fleshlights I don't think are so bad; they're just the inverse of vibrators. It's those creepy silicon dolls that freak me out.

A (female) friend of mine once made a crack about how fleshlights were made for losers who can’t get laid. I immediately thought, so does that mean that dildos/vibrators are for loser women who can’t get laid? Of course, no one thinks of it that way…as has already been pointed out, the image we have of a woman using a toy is, generally, one of liberated sexuality. The image we have of a (heterosexual) man using a toy by himself is, generally, one of perversion or creepiness. It’s an excellent example really of the double standard at play concerning male and female sexuality in the U.S. A man who by choice or lack of opportunity relies on solo sex, with or without sex toy, is generally regarded as a loser, end of story. By contrast, women in this situation will face no cultural stigma whatsoever and may even be cheered along for their independence — though of course, I’m not denying the physical and psychological distresses that will accompany those women who, while desiring physical intimacy with another person, are unable to actualize that. The difference is that the latter will generally not be thought of as “losers.” Society will generally not be as kind to men in the same situation.

On a more general note, I’ve been reading through this blog over the past several days and I guess what I find disturbing is what seems to me to be the categorical refusal to take into consideration any idea that maybe, just maybe, men in the U.S. face abuse and discrimination as well — legally, physically, and culturally. I am particularly appalled by the abject denial of any kind of problem with respect to the way men are treated in divorce, paternity, sexual abuse, and domestic violence cases. I realize that the principal point of the blog is to mock the more over the top statements found on “MRA” blogs and forums — and goodness knows there is plenty to mock — but the not-so-subtle undercurrent here, in my opinion, is the idea that all these complaints by men about the way they are treated simply boil down to not so well disguised misogyny and so can just be dismissed. Not that this is a uncommon concept within our culture at the moment by any means.

I think that the bottom line is that any discussion, calling into question, or heaven forbid criticism of, in particular, issues concerning female sexuality, sexual abuse laws as applied to men, domestic violence laws as applied to men, and divorce proceedings as applied to men, appears to be ruled out of bounds within the current cultural context. I don’t find this a healthy attitude, and this blog unfortunately helps perpetuate it. I realize that certain “MRA” don’t exactly help the cause here with their frequent hyperbole, which easily permits a shift of discussion back to “misogyny.” The problem is that I unfortunately, and sadly, doubt that even in the absence of such hyperbole, the most reasoned and sober questioning of certain “revealed truths” would still result in loud accusations of misogyny.

We Hunted the Mammoth tracks and mocks the white male rage underlying the rise of Trump and Trumpism. This blog is NOT a safe space; given the subject matter -- misogyny and hate -- there's really no way it could be.